


astralis

by madkingray



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Mentions of Pregnancy, OC children - Freeform, Post-Series, Post-Voltron: Legendary Defender, Trans Keith (Voltron), background allurance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-06 20:30:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16394582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madkingray/pseuds/madkingray
Summary: Keith's birthday, years after they saved the universe.





	astralis

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a quick thing I wrote for Keith's birthday (which is still happening in my timezone, PST). I'm sorry if it sounds so rushed or messy, but I did this in a day and a half so... I hope you like it!
> 
> (Thank you to Mack and Aki for giving this a look over and making sure that it was okay to post. Ily both.)

The shifting bed slowly drags Keith out of sleep, releasing a noise of protest and instinctively reaching out to latch onto the warm body trying to leave. There’s a low, soothing chuckle that follows the sweep of a warm hand brushing his hair back, and then the soft press of lips against his forehead.

“Go back to sleep. I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Hmph.” Keith slowly lets go and rolls over into the vacated spot, soaking up the leftover warmth. “Mmkay.”

If anything else is said, he’s out before he can hear it.

He comes to (again) when a familiar weight is pressing down on him, gentle kisses planted onto every inch of his face.

Keith keeps his eyes shut and pretends that he’s still asleep, but he’s sure that the act is broken by his own languid smile. A huff of laughter is released from the person above him, their noses brushing together when there’s a soft murmur of:

“I know you’re awake.”

“Am not,” he retorts.

“Are too.” A kiss is dropped onto his nose. “Wake up, lazy butt.”

With a sigh, Keith opens his eyes in time to catch the flash of amusement that passes over Shiro’s face before it turns into open fondness. He wraps his arms around him and hums, nuzzling against him as he says, “I’d rather stay here.”

“Well,” Shiro says. “The munchkins are waiting.”

As if on cue, there’s the sound of running feet pattering down the hall followed by small giggling that gets louder as it nears the door.

“Guess they were too impatient,” Shiro says with an exasperated sigh, but he looks entirely fond when he speaks. “An attack is imminent. You better prepare yourself, baby. Who knows what’ll happen?”

“I think I can handle this fight,” Keith replies dryly, eyes fixed on the door as the knob starts turning.

Suddenly, it stops.

Then, two children appear on the bed in a flash of blue light. Kosmo looks entirely pleased with himself as he curls around them, tail flicking in satisfaction, while the kids— _babies,_ he reminds himself; because they’ll always be his babies—shriek with rambunctious laughter.

Shiro moves off him just as they start crawling across the bed to climb onto Keith. He’s greeted with a big, wet kiss on both his left cheek and his right eye, both paired with a sound of _mwuah!_

They adopted a baby Galra a few years after the war was over, once they were settled quite nicely into their new lives. He had been abandoned by a group of Galra who still believed in Sendak’s ideals, and Keith just had to bring him home.

Keith was lucky that Shiro readily agreed to them taking in the baby because there was no way that he was going to leave him just like the baby’s parents had done.

Hikaru was the name they chose for him.

Sometime after that, Keith discovered that he was pregnant (boy, there were several loud complaints about Shiro’s ‘super sperm’ after that), and both Shiro and Keith were super excited for another addition to their family.

She took exactly fourteen hours, thirty-eight minutes, and twenty-nine seconds to be born and although every single moment of that long wait was agonizing, it was worth it.

They named her Akira.

“What do we say to daddy now, huh?” Shiro asks from the side while Keith discreetly wipes off the spit. “Just like we practiced, remember?”

“Happy birf!” Hikaru chirps. His pointed ears twitch as he flattens on top of Keith, flashing a (pointy) toothy grin at him and peering at him through glowing, yellow eyes. It’s starting to wear off as he ages and Keith is certain that his eyes will be purple. He’s three.

“Habbee daddy!” Akira says happily, though it comes out muffled as she gnaws on the sleeve of her Black Lion onesie that Lance made. She has the same eye color as Shiro, but she has Keith’s long black hair and his cute button nose (according to Shiro). She’s only two.

“Close enough,” Shiro says. “We’ll get there someday.”

Keith wraps his arms around their babies and kisses the tops of their heads, hugging them close. “Thank you,” he says, unable to stop smiling. “You two are very sweet. I love you.”

Both kids echo the sentiment, though Akira draws it out until Kosmo joins in with a soft howl. That makes Akira giggle, and then she’s wiggling out of his embrace to crawl over to the space wolf. She wraps her arms around him, which makes Kosmo huff happily.

The wolf and the kids have a very special bond. He’s very protective of them and is always by their sides whenever the whole family goes out, but Kosmo has proven to be easily corruptible. He often plays a hard game of hide-and-seek with them whenever it’s bath time or the kids have made a mess and don’t want to get in trouble.

The new parents did, of course, worry about them not getting along, so now they’re both glad that Kosmo is so open to being a big brother.

“Time to get up,” Shiro suddenly says, pushing himself off the bed and scooping Hikaru off Keith. He immediately latches onto Shiro’s arm and dangles off it while Shiro tugs on the sheets with his other hands. “We all made you a perfectly edible breakfast, and you have to eat it before it gets cold.”

“Perfectly edible, huh?” Keith arches a brow and fights a teasing grin. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

That prompts a smack on his ass once he’s finally up, which makes Keith laugh in delight as he pets through Kosmo’s flank before picking up Akira and following Shiro out of the room.

He sets her down to go to the bathroom and get his business over with, washing his face and brushing his teeth while attempting to comb out the few knots in his hair. Keith pulls it back into a ponytail when he fails, figuring he can fix it properly after he showers.

“Daddy, les’go!” Akira says, grabbing his hand the moment he steps out and tugging him towards the kitchen. “Made eggys and cakeys!”

Translation: Eggs and pancakes.

“We have this for you!” Hikaru exclaims once he’s seated at the table, holding up a black plastic headband with two cat ears poking out on top. “Birf hat! Wear it!”

He thrusts it out at Keith, who takes it with a bemused smile.

“Thanks, baby,” he tells him, carefully putting the headband on. “Did your Papa pick this out?”

Hikaru nods rapidly.

“Huh.” Keith glances over at Shiro, whose ears are tipped red and is pointedly not looking their way. He rests his elbow on the table drops his chin onto his palm, directing a grin at him. “That was nice of him. Maybe Papa bought it for a reason.”

“ _Papa,_ ” Shiro stresses. “Won’t be talking about this right here. In front of the kids. Instead, he’ll wait until the night to show you _why_ he picked these out.”

“Alright,” Keith replies, entirely amused. “Just know that I’ll be picking out your ‘birthday hat’ when February is near.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything different.”

Shiro turns away from them to grab two plates, one stacked with pancakes and the other covered in scrambled eggs. He walks over to the cupboard to bring out four other plates, setting them down on the table before serving them food. The kids get the pancakes first, and Hikaru is practically bouncing in his seat as Shiro cuts it into pieces for him while Akira stares her food down with furrowed brows as she stabs her fork into it.

“They wanted to add sprinkles to the mix,” Shiro says after he’s done cutting up Akira’s pancake, sliding a plate with a golden brown pancake to Keith. There are bits of color here and there, which must be the sprinkles. “Said that they would make it taste better.”

Keith cuts a piece and pops it into his mouth, humming at the taste. “Well, they’re not wrong about that. It’s delicious!”

“Don’t say that,” Shiro says quickly. “Then they’ll want it every day!”

“What?” Akira asks, squinting at them suspiciously. Her cheeks have streaks of pink and blue while her mouth is coated in chocolate syrup. “What you talk about!”

“Don’t be nosy,” Keith chides, reaching over to tap her nose. “Unless you want Aunt Pidge to take your nose away!”

“No,” she whispers fearfully, covering her nose with both hands and possibly dirtying them. Bath time is definitely going to be early today. “My nose! Not Aunty Pip!”

“You have mine,” Hikaru offers graciously, waving his fork around. “I give you my nose, Kira!”

Akira sniffles. “Thank ‘ou, Karu.”

Even though their names are already pretty short, they still managed to create nicknames for each other. It’s endearing to hear, and his heart always grows warm whenever he sees proof of their sibling love for each other.

“Make sure you guys eat all of your breakfast,” Shiro says, sliding sippy cups full of milk to their kids. Hikaru immediately drinks it while Akira focuses on licking her fork clean. “We have a long day ahead of us and we won’t get to eat until lunch.”

“We do?” Keith asks in surprise. “What are we doing?”

Shiro rolls his eyes. “Every year you try to find out your birthday plans before it happens, and every year I tell you the same thing: ‘nice try.’”

Keith huffs and stuffs a forkful of eggs into his mouth. He’ll never stop trying.

After breakfast, Shiro volunteers himself to bathe the kids. Keith lets him take the job in favor of cleaning up the kitchen, smiling to himself when he hears the laughter that spills out of the bathroom and fills up the rest of the house.

By the time he’s freshly showered and dressed (in casual clothes, as Shiro ordered), Shiro has the kids and Kosmo packed in the car and ready to go. Keith spies a couple of coolers in the trunk, several grocery store bags, and a bright red umbrella, and yet he still can’t get a sense of where they’re going.

“Is it a long drive?” Keith asks once they start driving away from their house—built next to that old shack in the desert, far enough away from everything so they won’t ever be disturbed. “I don’t think we can last a long car ride with the kids…”

Shiro laughs. “Don’t worry, we won’t be. I took that into consideration and decided we should have a faster way of getting there.”

 

☆ ☆ ☆

 

“I should have known we were coming here,” Keith says as he catches sight of the glittering waters in the distance. “You packed our cooler, that’s usually a dead giveaway.”

“We’ve only been to the beach three times,” Shiro replies, eyes fixed ahead. “I’d be surprised if you remembered that it was our beach cooler.”

The ride would have taken about two and a half hours by car, but being Defenders of the Universe has its perks from time to time—in this case, Shiro herded them all into the Black Lion once they arrived at the IGF-Atlas, just outside the Garrison. He piloted it while Keith sat on the floor of the cockpit with Kosmo and their sleeping kids.

They slow down as they near the beach, and Keith spies the hulking forms of the other Voltron Lions sitting in the sand. They’re all currently cloaked right now, but Black automatically detects them and points them out on her screens.

After they saved the world, Pidge managed to fabricate more cloaking devices for the rest of the Lions. It made it easier to travel around without being attacked by eager fans who wanted to meet the Paladins of Voltron.

One of the screens zooms in on a cluster of blue in the center of all the Lions, showcasing an image of three pop up tents and a table lined with delicious food. There are balloons tied to the tents, and a banner that clearly reads ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEITH!’

“A party?” Keith realizes, disgruntled. “I thought I told you not to make a big deal out of things…”

“How can I not?” Shiro counters. “It’s not every day that you turn thirty.”

“Oh yeah? Then how come when _you_ turned thirty you made us all promise to never mention it in your presence, huh?”

“We’re here,” Shiro says cheerfully, completely ignoring Keith like the coward that he is.

Once he lands carefully and allows the Lion to power down, Keith gently shakes the kids awake. Hikaru is always easier to wake up, eyes flying open and body popping up with a speed that still manages to surprise both Keith and Shiro. Akira, on the other hand, glares up at him for disturbing her sleep and rolls onto Kosmo instead.

“Kira,” Hikaru says, with all the exasperation that a three-year-old can muster. “Come on! Beach time!”

“I no like,” Akira says grumpily. “I stay with Kosmo. No beach!”

Shiro crouches down beside them, wrapping an arm around Hikaru and reaching out to smooth Akira’s hair back. She stares up at him with the fiercest scowl, eyes a bit shiny as she clutches at Kosmo’s fur.

“The other Lions are here,” Shiro says in a low, soothing voice. “And so are all your aunts and uncles. Don’t you want to see them? They miss you.”

Akira sniffles. “Aunty ‘Lura here?”

“Yes. She’s here.”

That makes Akira light up and she pushes herself up to stand, grabbing Shiro’s hand and stomping excitedly. “Les’go!” she cries, tugging on it. “Les’go! I wanna see Aunty ‘Lura!”

Black lowers her head to extend the ramp out of her mouth. Akira takes off in excitement, shouting for Allura the moment she’s outside. Shiro hands Hikaru over before chasing after her, grabbing half the things they brought on the way out.

Kosmo stretches and yawns, long tongue licking over sharp teeth, and disappears in a flash of blue light.

“Just you and me now, kid,” Keith tells Hikaru, standing up to grab the other cooler. He peeks inside the grocery bags. “Here, this one has chips. Why don’t you take it?”

“Okay, daddy!” Hikaru says, crouching down to wrap both of his arms around the bag and hefting it up with heavy breath. “Heavy! But I help!”

“Good job,” Keith says proudly, ruffling his hair with his free hand. Hikaru beams at him, ears twitching in happiness. “Now let’s go, I bet everyone is waiting for us.”

Lance, Hunk, and Coran greet him with a cheer and wave, standing in front of the grill as they cook up something that looks like ribs. Pidge waves at him offhandedly while Matt nods in greeting, the two of them mostly focused on a device that’s sparking angrily on one of the tables. Krolia kisses the top of his head when she passes by with a big box, Kosmo trotting at her heels. Allura shoots him a bright smile, Akira perched on her hip despite her currently large stomach.

“Nice to see you all,” Keith says to everyone with a grin of his own, directing Hikaru to the food table so he can put his bag down. The moment he does, he takes off to be by Shiro’s side. “Anything I can do to help?”

“Nope!” Coran says, coming over and grabbing him by his shoulders. He guides Keith to the bench beside Allura and forces him to sit down. “You’re the birthday boy! You’re supposed to sit down and relax while we do all the work.” He pauses and looks over at Lance. “Is that right?”

Lance nods, attention turned back to the grill when there’s the sound of loud sizzling.

Keith looks over at Allura once Coran moves away, nodding at her stomach. “How’s it going?”

“Oh, it’s going swell!” Allura answers rather brightly, slowly sitting down beside him. Akira plops down onto the sand and starts making a big pile. “I thought I’d be tired all the time like those books said, but I’ve felt nothing of the sort! I suppose that’s a perk to being Altean.”

“It was the same for me, too,” Keith says with a laugh. “Glad there’s something we have in common.”

“I wish we had the shorter term in common,” she replies with a small huff. “I already want them out of me so I can finally hold them in my arms.”

Keith looks at her. He squints. “You just wanna see if they have Lance’s ears.”

She sighs. “Yes, yes I do.”

He reaches over and pats her knee consolingly. “Look on the bright side,” he says gently. “You’re having twins—the chances that they’ll both have his ears shouldn’t be too high. Maybe one will, and the other will have yours.”

Allura covers his hand with her own and breathes out in relief. “Yeah, you’re right.” She laughs. “Look at you, already being a fantastic godfather to my children.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Keith says easily.

“Daddy!” Hikaru shouts as he comes running up to them, bouncing in place and tugging on Keith’s shirt. “Papa says we go to the water! Let’s go!”

Keith looks over at Shiro, who grins back at him. “Alright,” he says, scooping both Hikaru and Akira up. The former shrieks in delight while the latter slumps in his hold. “But first, we gotta change you into your swim clothes and you gotta keep them on the whole time we’re in the water, deal?”

“Deal!” Hikaru says happily.

Akira grumbles in agreement.

He hands the kids off to Shiro for him to change them, smearing sunscreen all over their skin once they’re done. Akira wiggles around in an attempt to escape it while Hikaru tries to lick it off his hand. He doesn’t really need it like Akira does, purple complexion and all, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

“Now we’re all set and ready to go,” Keith says when he’s done, taking off his shoes and rolling up his jeans so they don’t get soaked by the waves. He doubts they’ll want to head deep into the water, and that’s why he doesn’t change into his swim trunks. “Ready to go splash around?”

“Kosmo come too?” Akira asks.

“You gotta ask him, baby.”

Kosmo does go with them, and the five of them happily splash around in the water for a good hour or so until it’s time for them to eat.

 

☆ ☆ ☆

 

They’re all huddled around the fire pit while it crackles and dances with flames, the stars twinkling above them as they exchange stories of their recent travels. Pidge is slumped against Hunk while Matt sprawls across their laps, the three of them bundled up in hoodies and jackets. Allura is sitting back against Lance, their intertwined hands resting on her baby bump with heavy blankets draped across their shoulders. Coran is between the two clumps, manning the fire and trying to figure out how to prepare s’mores for everyone while Krolia tries to help.

Keith and Shiro have their arms wrapped around their kids, who slumber on peacefully after a tiring day. They sacrificed their own blankets to tuck them around them, but their own body heat is enough to keep them from freezing as long as they stay close together.

Kosmo is lying in front of them, gnawing on leftover bones from all the ribs they ate earlier. He’s gotten through half the pile and it’s only been forty minutes.

A kiss is suddenly pressed to the side of his head, prompting Keith to look up at Shiro curiously.

Shiro is gazing at him with an expression that’s pure adoration, voice low when he says, “Happy birthday, baby.”

Cheeks growing warm, Keith manages a smile in return and whispers a soft, “Thanks.”

Another kiss, this time on his forehead. “Did you have a good day?” Shiro asks. “I know you said not to make a big deal, but you seemed to be enjoying yourself…”

“I did,” Keith admits, snuggling closer to him. “I really did. It was probably the best birthday I’ve ever had.”

“You say that every year…”

“That doesn’t make it any less true!”

They share a laugh and quiet down when Akira shifts restlessly, only soothed by Keith’s soft shushing. She clutches the blanket tightly as she relaxes again, shifting closer to her brother in sleep.

“Are you happy?” Shiro asks next.

Keith tips his head back to stare at the stars, as bright as they are when they’re out in the desert. He thinks about everything that he went through and how despite all of that, he still managed to get to a point in his life where he has a family of his own, like he always wanted, and friendships that will forever stay strong.

And, a husband who also happens to be the love of his life.

A content sigh leaves him. He turns his head to kiss Shiro’s shoulder and meets his gaze, smile as soft as the warmth he sees in them.

“Yeah,” he answers. “I am.”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Birthday, Keith.
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/viribirb) | [tumblr](http://madkingray.tumblr.com/)


End file.
